


Valhöll, the hall of the slain

by beautifulxdestruction



Category: Captain America (Movies), Captain America - All Media Types
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe - Time Travel, Angst, Artist Steve Rogers, Awesome Howling Commandos, BAMF Bucky Barnes, Bucky Barnes & Natasha Romanov Friendship, F/M, M/M, Multi, Natasha Romanov Is a Good Bro, Pining, Pre-Serum Steve Rogers, Protective Bucky Barnes, Sam Wilson Is a Good Bro, Sick Steve Rogers, Vikings, alternative universe
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-06
Updated: 2019-08-08
Packaged: 2020-08-10 15:50:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,993
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20137993
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/beautifulxdestruction/pseuds/beautifulxdestruction
Summary: At first, he didn‘t quite understand what it was but he knew it sounded like a heartbeat coming from the ocean.Bang – BangBang – BangBang – BangOut of the fog, a head of a dragon appeared. A monster ship carrying men and women who looked more like beasts than actual people. They were all carrying weapons and shields. As they sailed closer to the land they banged on the shields as if they were warning them:„We are here, we are here and you better run„---Steve Rogers, a guy with a medical record as high as the empire state building, travels to England to meet his internet friend Peggy Carter. Little does he know how far he'll truly travel when he finds himself stuck in a dangerous time, where he meets the ruthless Northman, Bucky Barnes.





	1. The heartbeat of the ocean

**Author's Note:**

> So, I'm from Iceland and I've been studying vikings for a long time. Then one day I thought "Hm... How would Steve and Bucky be like as vikings?" This is me simply exploring how the two of them would find each other and fall in love with each other during this violent time.

ENGLAND 789 

A young soldier only 17 years old is taking his very first shift as a guard for the king during a particularly cold spring morning. He isn‘t quite sure what he should be expecting to happen during his time as a guard. His older brother who‘s been a guard and a feared soldier for years told him he shouldn‘t worry too much about his first shift. He was only going to be guarding the beach and everyone knew that nothing ever happened on the beach. His brother was mistaken, though. Because even if he might fear what could happen he still wanted to be just like him. He wanted to be a soldier, not some guard. He sighed quietly. The gear on his back weighing him down as he took heavy steps through the sand, yawning occasionally. 

He could think of million other things he would much rather be doing right now than staying by himself on this forsaken beach. He wanted to be where all the action was, he wanted to fight and proof himself to be a great soldier just like his brother. But instead, he got the easiest job of all. To watch over a beach where nothing has ever happened. 

The young guard looked out at the ocean and watched as the thick fog rolled ceaselessly to land, causing the ocean and the sky to blend into one. The morning was quiet, like every other morning before everyone else woke up to do their work. It was quiet until he could hear the bangs. At first, he didn‘t quite understand what it was but he knew it sounded like a heartbeat coming from the ocean. The oceans heartbeat was getting stronger and more intense by the second.

Bang – Bang  
Bang – Bang  
Bang – Bang

Out of the fog, a head of a dragon appeared. A monster ship carrying men and women who looked more like beasts than actual people. They were all carrying weapons and shields. As they sailed closer to the land they banged on the shields as if they were telling the poor guard:

„We are here, we are here and you better run.„ 

His face drained of any color as it got closer and he saw the man standing on the edge of the ship carrying an axe and a shield. His face was already covered in blood and his dark hair tied up in some strange yet beautiful braid. The way the man carried himself and smiled towards the guard sent shivers down the young boy's body because for a moment he couldn‘t help but believe the devil was smiling at him ready to claim his soul.

The strange and the devilish man was the very last thing the young soldier saw before he was hit with an unsuspected arrow. The beasts walked past his body as they made their way to the village. A warning bell began to ring destroying the stillness of the early spring morning, but it was way too late because Bucky Barnes had set his mind on the precious things the village held, and everyone knew that if Bucky wanted something he would get it no matter what. 

\-----------------------

ENGLAND. 2019

„Steve, are you sure you don‘t mind?“ Peggy met his eyes in the mirror while she carefully applied her rosy red lipstick to her full lips. This was Steve‘s fifth day in the small village King‘s Lynn in England to visit the one and only Peggy Carter. The two of them had met in an LGBT group chat on KIK long time ago and from that moment on their friendship only grew stronger. They would talk to each other on KIK every moment of the day and then eventually they started to talk to each other on Skype. He never would have believed he would ever get the chance to meet her in real life but on his birthday Sam, Tony, and Peggy surprised him by giving him a ticket to England which otherwise he never would have been able to afford, with only one condition: 

„Relax, have fun and meet some cute English guys“ 

The past couple of days had been the most fun he had experienced in a long time. The two of them had traveled to London to act like some wide eyed tourists. Peggy had dragged him across the city to a different type of museums. Art museums, natural history museum, war museums and finally the British Museum where they could see items from the Anglo-Saxons era and to his surprise there were also multiple items from Vikings. Shields, swords, coins and some strange religious items. 

If Steve should be quite honest, he had never been focused on learning history during school because during most history classes he was too busy drawing in his books or daydreaming about the guy sitting beside him. Peggy, on the other hand, seemed to know everything the museum was trying teaching them.

„Steve, of course, there were Vikings in England don‘t be daft.“

„This is Óðinn, the greatest god in the Norse religion, he gave his eye for knowledge, maybe you should give yours to see if it works for you. This is Þór, the god of thunder with Mjölnir and his two goats who he can eat each evening and they come back alive the next day.“ 

Even though Steve was much more interested in the art museum he was still fascinated by the strange world that was now long gone. 

Now after endless days in London, shopping and visiting museums they had planned to spend this day completely differently. They were going to go drive for a few minutes outside King‘s Lynn to the ocean where they were going to have a picnic and Steve was going to paint the ocean and Peggy with her dark hair blowing in the wind. Even if he had loved his time in London he couldn‘t wait for them to go to get away from everything. That is until Peggy‘s phone ran unexpectedly and Steve just knew what was going on. 

Peggy worked for some super-secret organization and she always seemed to get dragged to work no matter if she was on vacation or not. Peggy spoke on the phone with a hushed voice but Steve could hear her agree to come to work, so he knew it was her boss whisking her away to London probably for some important meeting or whatever it was that she did.

„Don‘t even worry about it.“ He assured her even though he couldn‘t help the feeling of dread that washed over him at the idea of having to spend the day by himself in her apartment. 

„I‘m sorry darling. I promised I wouldn‘t work while you‘re here, you know I would much rather spend the day with you. But apparently, they can‘t do anything without my help.“ A gentle smile appeared on his lips while he listened to her complain about her boss for couple of minutes as she moved between rooms to find everything she needed for her trip. 

„I know you do, but you have to save the world from ending. I‘m sure I should be able to find something to entertain myself without you, even though it‘s going to be impossibly difficult“ Steve grimaced slightly as he stood up from the couch where he had been sitting for what felt like an eternity and stretched out his stiff back.  
  
„I highly doubt you‘re ever going to have any fun without me but if a miracle happens and you want to go somewhere you can take the car, the keys are in-„

„The bowl, I know. Now stop worrying and go to work, I‘ve always been able to take care of myself and today shouldn't be any different, now should it?“ 

Steve knew how to take care of himself, he had been doing it since his mom passed away a few years ago. Well if he should be completely honest he had been taking care of himself long before she died. She was a single mother working double shifts to be able to afford Steve‘s medical bills so he had to figure out how to cook himself supper once he would get home from school and some nights he would be all by himself while she was on night shifts. He had always been able to take care of himself but that didn‘t mean he liked it. 

Peggy turned to him as she opened the front door. The worrying look in her dark eyes was quite obvious. He had seen the same look in his mother's eyes and all of his friend's eyes whenever he would get sick or during one of many times he had gotten into a fight he had no chance of winning. 

„Alright, alright. But please call me if there‘s anything wrong and don‘t you dare forget your inhaler if you go outside and for the love of God don‘t get into any fights!“

„Yes, M‘am!“ He gave her a mock salute and then she was gone and he was left all by himself. 

At first, he was simply going to lie on the couch and watch TV until she would come back, but after awhile the suffocating emptiness of the apartment weighed on him until he knew he wasn‘t able to stay in there for much longer, besides the weather outside was fantastic which should be considered a miracle. 

So, without wasting another minute Steve grabbed his backpack and put everything he believed he would need in it. His sketchbook, his paint and paintbrushes, his medication, pencils and of course his inhaler. Then right before he left he hesitated for a moment before he ran into the kitchen and made a couple of sandwiches for him. As he was running outside he fished the car keys out of the bowl before he ran outside into the sun, breathing heavily since he had been rushing way too much to get outside to look for any kind of adventure.


	2. Traveller

The sun was shining when Steve sat down in Peggy‘s old, yellow car that was almost equally as bright as the sun in the sky. For a moment Steve simply sat there staring at the steering wheel as if he was about to face the greatest challenge of his life. Of course, he had driven before, but when you live in Brooklyn cars are pretty useless except for being in your way. 

Taking a deep, rattling breath he turned the key in the ignition and listened to the car come alive with a loud groan. A relieved smile slowly began to appear on his lips the moment he could hear the glorious noise of the old car. At least turning it on is half the battle, right? The other half is actually driving the damn thing on the wrong side of the road, but Steve is nothing if he isn‘t a stubborn bastard. So instead of thinking about it too much, he began his drive out of the village with his heart beating loudly in his chest, cursing so much that it would make a sailor blush whenever another car would drive past him. 

This is going to be the death of me. Steve thought to himself, capturing his lower lip between his teeth biting down on it until he could taste the faint bitterness of blood on his tongue. „Alright calm down, you‘ve survived far worse than these roads“ He glanced in the mirror, looking at himself in the eyes before he turned on the radio. As soon as he could hear the first note of the song „I think we‘re alone now“ He couldn‘t contain the grin that spread across his face. 

„And we tumble to the ground and then you say, I think we‘re alone now“ Steve sings at the top of his lungs. With the window rolled down and the warm wind playing with his blonde hair as he drove further and further away from the town towards the beach where he and Peggy had been planning to visit. 

He could still remember every single line of the song, even if he hadn‘t sung along with it since he and his mother would put it on the vinyl record player she kept in the living room and the two of them would dance together until they would either laugh so much they would have to stop or until steve‘s asthma would start acting up and he would have to take a break. 

After his mother got sick they would listen to it from time to time, but it wasn‘t the same. It would feel more like torture having to listen to it while his mother was lying in her bed wasting away. Gone were the days when he would feel so happy that he was sure his weak heart would burst at its seams whenever they would listen to it. Eventually, as she got weaker he would listen to the song less and less. Then she was gone, even if he knew it would happen and the doctors had prepared him for the day she would be gone, it still caught him off guard. After her death, he hadn‘t been able to listen to it without feeling the emptiness in his heart that he had been trying to ignore since the moment she took her last breath. 

For the first time since she passed away, he felt ready to listen to it. Why? Because he was far away from home and the happiness he used to feel with his mother was flowing through him and he could imagine how happy she would be right this moment if she would be in the car with him. She would be sitting in the passenger seat, her golden hair tied up in her usual ponytail and she would be singing the song with him, just as loudly. 

By the time the song was over and a new song began to play he had reached the beach. For a couple of seconds, he simply stayed in the car and looked over the ocean and the wide stretch of sand. It was just as picturesque as he had imagined and his fingers were craving the pencil to capture its beauty. 

Even if he knew he was going to have a great time by himself he couldn‘t help but wonder what Peggy would say if she was there with him. He would like to imagine she would say something deep and beautiful but if he should be completely honest he knew her well enough to know that she would probably say something like: „What are you waiting for? Get your skinny ass out of my car right this second, the ocean won‘t paint itself, now will it?“ She would say it with her posh English accent and her mischievous smile before she would run out of the car into the water, laughing excitedly as a small child would. 

As soon as he stepped out of the car he could feel the ocean breeze greet him. Closing his eyes Steve inhaled deeply feeling the fresh air fill up his lungs and for the first time in forever, he felt healthy, or well as healthy as he‘ll ever be. His eyes slowly opened when the crushing sound of waves hitting the shore and the squealing from the birds begged him to come closer. 

When he was younger he had never really been able to go to the beach back at home. Kids would come over and ask if he would like to join them but he had always either been bedridden from one of the many illnesses that plagued him when he was a child or he would simply be too tired or too scared to get sick again. So while kids his age would go to the beach to play in the water and the sand he would stay inside and draw the amazing adventure he would be having on the beach as well if he would have been able to go with them. 

With his backpack on his back and his shoes safely tucked away in his car he made his way to the ocean. The corner of his lips turning upwards into a childlike smile when the sand tickled his toes as his feet sank slightly into it. That's how he was going to spend his morning. He sat down and buried his toes deeper in the sand, painting the ocean with the sound of the waves filling up his senses. He was completely lost in his own world until his phone rang pulling him away from his daydreams. 

„Steve!“ Steve didn´t have to read the callers ID to know who was on the other line. He would always recognize Sam‘s voice no matter what. The two of them had met years ago back when they were both freshmen in college. Even if everyone could see how different they were they were still able to become best friends instantly. Perhaps because neither of them had known anyone in the school and they somehow latched on to each other so they wouldn‘t have to be alone during their first day. Now all these years later they were still just as close as they had been during their college years. 

„You wouldn‘t believe how beautiful it is where I am right now.“ Steve put down his paintbrush and let his body fall down in the sand. His crystal blue eyes staring up at the sky, there wasn‘t even a single cloud up there. Only the blinding sun and the birds that were flying above him without a single worry on their minds. 

„Please Steve spare me, I don‘t need to hear how beautiful all your English boys are. I‘m glad you‘re having the time of your life though.“ Steve couldn‘t contain the loud groan that escaped from his lips as soon as Sam mentioned -his- boys. Sure his love life has been quite pathetic lately but he didn‘t need the constant reminder of it, even if he knew he was only teasing him.

„I‘m by myself at the beach, just for your information.“ 

„By yourself? Where‘s Peggy?“ Steve hesitated for a moment. He knew Sam always worried way too much about him. If Sam would be able to get what he wanted he would have Steve wrapped up in a bubblewrap while he would be under constant supervision. 

„She had to go to London for some work emergency. I was going to stay home while waiting for her but why waste the day inside, when it‘s actually not raining or foggy?“  
Sam hummed to himself and Steve just knew he had the worried line between his eyebrows he got whenever Steve did something incredibly stupid. 

„Yeah, Yeah I get that. Just be careful, alright?“ 

„I‘m always careful.“ A booming laugh filled his ears. 

„Sure you are. Call me when you get back, alright?“ 

Steve didn‘t budge for a good while after the phone call ended. He simply lay down in the sand and was slowly drifting to sleep when a loud noise woke him up. He sat up abruptly waiting to see if the noise had been something he had been able to create with his own imagination while he was halfway between being awake and asleep. 

But then he heard it again.

At first, he thought it could be an explosion or maybe a gunshot ringing in the air from a hunter. His entire body shook when the sound boomed yet again. This time around he knew it was neither of those things. No, it had been the banging of a drum. But it couldn‘t be? He had been at the beach for a while without hearing or seeing another person. He had been completely by himself. 

If Sam was here he would tell him that they should probably get going, because why should they bother with running around the beach looking for a noise that probably had a perfectly reasonable explanation? While Peggy would tell him to stop creating some strange mysteries out of every single mundane thing he ran into. They would be both right, he should head back but as much as he tried to walk away. There‘s no way he would be able to ignore the sound it seemed to be calling him with each rhythmic beating. 

His breathing began to quicken before he began to head towards the source of the sound. He reached into his backpack and pulled out his inhaler and with a deep breath, he inhaled the medicine. This is probably nothing, just some farmers enjoying the day, right? 

The banging began to beat rapidly louder and louder with each step Steve took towards the sound. He felt like he had been walking for miles when he reaches some high, beautiful cliffs. The banging pulsated against the rocks making them sound like an entire army is banging on a war drum. 

The world around Steve was spinning in the noise. He could still hear the ocean in the background and the birds crying but the echo of the drums cut right through him, making his body feel limp like a rag doll. He had felt faint before, hell he had lost consciousness more times than he could count but this was different. This felt like his entire life is being sucked out of him and the gravity wouldn't stop pulling him down until he had fallen on his knees in front of a well-hidden cave in the cliff wall. 

With each bang, he felt the cave pull him closer and closer until he was crawling to get inside of it. His chest rising and falling struggling to catch his breath. Maybe there aren‘t any drums? Maybe his brain is messing with him because he‘s about to die? Maybe he‘s having a stroke? Maybe his heart is finally failing? 

Maybe.....Maybe.....Maybe......

With each painstaking second, the sound got louder and louder until he was finally inside the cave, then the world seemed to quiet down. He no longer heard the drums nor could he hear the ocean or the birds. Everything was too quiet. 

Steve finally allowed himself to sit down on the floor of the cave, that‘s when he saw it. On the cave wall, there were strange symbols cut in the rocks. He had never seen anything like it before, the cave was completely covered in them. Then as Steve peered deeper into the cave through the darkness he was barely able to make out the items that were carefully placed at the end of the cave below one of the symbols. As his eyes got adjusted to the darkness he could finally see what they were.  
A human skull as well as two bird skulls and an axe. 

Steve inhaled deeply, his lungs wheezing slightly before he stood up again and moved closer to the end of the cave. Everything inside of him was screaming at him to run away, run away as far away as humanly possible. These items must have been placed there by some deranged cult leaders that would surely be back soon enough. But he couldn‘t help himself, his curiosity got the best of him. 

His eyes fell on the human skull, someone had drawn one of the symbols on its forehead. He knew better than to take it, yet he reached out for it but as soon as the tip of his finger brushed against the symbol on its forehead the banging began once again, louder than ever before. Steve tried to cover his ears without any luck and in the background, he could hear a blood-curdling scream echo throughout the cave only to figure out the scream had been his own. He was screaming in agony and the world around him was turning darker and darker until there was nothing but darkness and silence.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading the first chapter of Valhöll, the hall of the slain. Reviews and Kudos give me life!


End file.
